When the inevitable question pops up, "What Is a Whiskerino?", I just shrug and toss out some trite explanation like: "It's a 4 month beard-growing contest." It's not that I lack the enthusiasm to spread the love I have for this — I just don't believe it can be understood without participation.

Excellent caption. It has been very nice "knowing" you through your beard photos on this thing. We'd hoped you and Ned would have made the throwdown, but alas. Someday, we'll all meet in the human world. So long for now.

2) I am staying at a place in San Francisco this week with a flatmate that is from New Zealand. He's a great guy but every time I talk to him I find myself wishing he was Mat Wiseman. Is that creepy / weird? Yes, absolutely. Is it a find indicator of how much I appreciate your participation and friendship that we've developed? You better believe it!

3) Thank you for taking this thing international. Makes Whiskerino so much cooler that we get around to that side of the globe.

4) I hope we're able to keep up in real life. I've got you on the Twitters but some IM / email exchanges now and again would be a welcome bit of communication in my life.

Well said! It really is through full participation that one appreciates all that this event really is. Thanks for so many beautiful photos. It was a joy to see each one. Glad to have such a Whiskerino icon on #Team Dog.
Also, I need to get to NZ soon!

You're a legend Mr Wiseman... a LEGEND! Without you there is no Whiskerino. Seriously, you bring it every day. Trust me when I say, one day I'm going to the land of kiwis and when it happens you better have a couch ready for me... because we're going to tear up your city!!!!

It has definitely been a fantastic 4 months. Thanks for sharing your awesome photos with us. I would love to visit your town some time. I'm super jealous of the nature that surrounds you. Enjoy the rest of the year and I hope to see you in May.

I agree. I spent the first moustache may trying to explain to my extended friends and family why what I was doing was worth the effort, and by day 10 or so I was already over telling people to check it out. I realized that the purpose of participation was for the participants, not to prove anything to anyone else in my life. That is perhaps the most significant thing @mackle has accomplished here, because NOTHING else I have ever done on the web could be described like that.

i agree 100% with your caption. the last thing i wanted to say to anyone when explaining my trip to tennessee was either "beards" or "internet". impossible for someone to understand without being a part of it. i am glad you have been a part of it. i will look you up next time i am in nz. i will use it as my excuse to hit the south island.

oh mat wiseman. even internationally, your awesomeness shown through this whiskerino. im glad you finally got a kb... they are definitely worth their weight in gold at times but i think everyone should have one. i enjoyed your photos this go around because you really delivered most everyday. i wasnt very good at that anyways. all right... see you around dude. well probably not because you live an oceans apart, but you know what i mean.

thank you for more than a wonderful four months. thank you for what is now years of friendship. thank you for consistently bringing a high level of creativity and style. thank you for gifts and mail from your distant lands. thank you for the jokes, the kind words, the inspiration and for simply being here. you have always been one of my favorites mat.

Your photos have been an inspiration. As someone who went from knowing pretty much nothing to being able to take a mean amateur portrait, it's been the photos from you guys that have pushed me to learn and grow.